On the Edge of Forever
by chocolatequeen
Summary: The Doctor might not be able to tell her he loved her, but he could promise to stay with her forever. Part of As Time Goes By, sequel to Autumn Rest.


This is part of As Time Goes By, my series following the canon progression between the Doctor and Rose in a series of hugs and kisses. It follows Autumn Rest, which I strongly recommend you read first.

37: Romantic kiss

"Can I take you somewhere?" the Doctor asked Rose a week after their autumn holiday.

Rose scrunched her nose up. "You take me places every day," she pointed out. "That's basically our whole life, actually—you taking me places."

He tugged on his ear. "True, but…"

 _Oh._ Rose took his free hand. "You mean, you want to take me somewhere special?" she clarified.

The Doctor nodded, a shy smile on his face. He opened his mouth, then shut it with a sharp click.

Rose smiled up at him, wanting to offer as much reassurance as possible. The Doctor wasn't often uncertain, not even about their relationship, so whatever he wanted to show her must be important.

"Yeah, I'd love to see whatever it is you want to show me, Doctor." He let out a gusty sigh of relief, and she took a step back from him to allow him to get to the console. "Am I dressed appropriately?" she asked.

He scanned her figure, clad in jeans and a short-sleeved blouse. "Might want a jacket," he told her. "If I do this right, we'll be landing just before sunrise, so it should be pretty chilly."

Butterflies fluttered in Rose's stomach as she jogged back to their room to grab her favourite black jacket. The Doctor had planned some sort of surprise for her today, and it seemed to be a romantic surprise.

His soft smile when she reentered the console room had those butterflies multiplying. "Ready?" He landed the TARDIS and held out his hand.

Rose took his hand and squeezed. "Always." His eyes widened slightly and she pushed up on her toes to brush a kiss over his cheek. "Come on, you wanted to show me something."

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor said as he pushed open the TARDIS doors with dramatic flare, "welcome to Senfina."

The breath caught in Rose's throat as she took in the towering spires of red rock surrounding them. An early morning mist clung to the planet, making it look like the spires simply disappeared into the atmosphere.

"Oh, my god, Doctor—it's gorgeous!"

"Come on." He tugged on her hand. "The sun's coming up in about 15 minutes, and I want you to see it."

Rose reluctantly tore her gaze away from the rock formations and followed him as he clambered over boulders. "You've been here before," she observed a few minutes later. "You know exactly where you're going."

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Yeah. Senfina… Now that Gallifrey is gone, Senfina is the most temporally perfect place in the universe. Coming here lets my time senses relax—especially after I've run into a fixed point."

"Is that why it seems so peaceful here?" Rose asked as he helped her over a large boulder without many hand holds. "Like… the buzz I usually feel when I'm places other than Earth isn't there. Everything just feels _right._ "

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Interesting… I didn't know you could feel that. Maybe it's a remnant of Bad Wolf." He shook his head quickly. "But we can talk about that later. Right now…" He led her around one last spire until they were standing on a cliff overlooking a deep, wide ravine.

Rose put her free hand to her chest. "Oh… Oh, that's amazing." She carefully peered over the edge, but it was so deep, she couldn't even see the bottom. "It's like the Grand Canyon, but so much _more_."

"And just wait." The Doctor pointed to the horizon, where the grey dawn was turning pink. "In a minute, that light is going to flood this entire canyon, and… oh, you have to see it to believe it," he told her.

Fingers of pink, red, and gold light crept across the canyon, and Rose realised why the Doctor had been intent on bringing her here at sunrise. The red stone was striking enough, but as the sunlight hit it, the entire canyon shimmered and sparkled in the light.

"How is that happening?" she whispered.

"The angle of the light hits the rocks just right to shine into millions of hidden fissures, illuminating a bioluminescent moss," the Doctor explained. "It only happens once a day."

They watched in silence as the shimmering light spread across the canyon, then slowly faded into a more traditional sunrise. Rose sighed when the last sparkle disappeared.

"Thank you, Doctor."

To her surprise, he looked more nervous now than he had before they'd left the TARDIS. "That…" He tugged on his ear. "That was only part of the reason I wanted to bring you here," he told her. "I mean… it's why I made sure we got here before sunrise, but I wanted to bring you to Senfina for other reasons."

"What kind of other reasons?" Rose asked.

"Well… You said you can feel the way time is different here."

"Yeah." Rose closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of the ground beneath her feet and the way the air moved over her skin, then she looked at the Doctor again. "It's like… time is absolute here, but it moves freely at the same time. There's no room for things to change, but they don't get stuck like a fixed point."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "We really need to do some tests on you. Because you shouldn't be able to feel all of that, Rose. Even if you felt it, you shouldn't understand what it is."

Rose sighed and jiggled his hand. "We can talk about that later. For now, you were going to tell me why you brought me to this beautiful place."

He blinked a few times, then grinned. "Quite right. Well, if you can feel it, then you might understand. Senfina is a still place in time. Promises made here carry more weight than promises made elsewhere, because they're protected by time itself." He took a deep breath, then looked down at Rose. "It's a popular romantic destination, especially for time sensitive people."

 _Promises made here…_ Rose thought she was starting to understand his purpose, and she found it hard to breathe.

"I can understand why," she managed.

The Doctor smiled sheepishly at her. "You were surprised when I told Claire we were married. I know we talked about that, but I don't ever want you to doubt how I feel about you, or how committed I am to our relationship."

Rose opened her mouth to reassure him, but he pressed a finger to her lips. "Let me do this," he asked, and the yearning in his voice tugged at something in her stomach. She nodded, and he took both of her hands in his.

"The Eternals named this planet Senfina, because things that happen here have no end. Even though I know…" He paused and cleared his throat. "I know that one day, I will lose you, but even that won't change the way I feel about you. And if I could have one wish, Rose Tyler, just one magical wish-upon-a-star moment, it would be to keep you with me forever. I want to spend the rest of my lives with you."

Those weren't the words Rose was familiar with—there was no "I do," and there wasn't a ring—but she still knew what he was saying. Her mouth worked as she tried to form a response, but she couldn't get words past the lump in her throat.

A strong gust of wind swept up the canyon wall and swirled around them, pushing them into each other's arms. Rose looked up at her Doctor, taking in the little uncertain furrow in his brow.

"My Doctor," she sighed as she rubbed that sign of fear away. She ran her fingertips over his familiar face, watching all his doubts melt away beneath her caress. "You really are _my_ Doctor, aren't you?" she asked as she moved closer to him.

His nose brushed against hers when he nodded. "I will always be your Doctor," he pledged, then brushed his lips against hers in a soft kiss.

Rose swayed into him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he settled his hands on her hips. They'd kissed hundreds of times before, but it felt different today, somehow. His lips were softer, or warmer, or maybe it was just the warmth she felt in her heart, knowing this was the first day of their forever.

The kiss seemed unending, and Rose wondered if that was something special about Senfina, too. She could feel every nuance of the Doctor's emotions so much more clearly than she could anywhere else. His joy and happiness washed over her, and Rose opened her mouth beneath his, letting him taste how much she loved him.

When he pulled back with a soft pop, no time had passed and yet hours had gone by. He pressed his forehead to hers, keeping them in that bubble where they were both all of time at once, and yet completely outside of time.

"How…" She looked up at him.

"Time Lord trick," he explained. "I've slowed down time for us, so we can feel every second of it as it goes by."

Rose tilted her head back, and it was an invitation the Doctor was quick to accept, pressing his lips to hers again. This time, he carded his fingers through her hair, and with time slowed, she could feel the way each individual strand slipped through his fingers. She could feel the texture of his tongue as it brushed against hers, and the individual pressure of each finger of his other hand as it flexed on her hip, pulling her closer.

She could also feel his growing desire fighting with his need to keep them in _this_ moment and not go to the next. When she caught that, she pulled out of the kiss and took his hand. "Let's take one last look," she told him, turning back to the canyon. "Then we'll go home."

There was unspoken gratitude in the way he laced their fingers together and squeezed her hand. Rose realised as they listened to the wildlife waking up around them that as much as this moment had changed them, it hadn't really. She still knew the Doctor, just like she had before. If people asked, she'd tell them they were married, but she wasn't going to call him her husband. He was her Doctor, and that was the only endearment or label she needed.

Giant rays soared overhead, calling to each other, when Rose realised one more thing. "Hey." She turned to look at the Doctor. "Shouldn't both of us offer vows?"

His eyes widened slightly, and he turned to watch the rays for a moment. Rose let him gather his thoughts, and the warm smile on his face when he looked at her again rewarded her patience.

"How long are you going to stay with me?"

Time seemed to hold its breath as it waited for her answer. The Earth-standard lines sprung to her lips—until we are parted by death, as long as we both shall live—but she pushed them away.

The Doctor had said promises made here were protected by time. She might never say it again, knowing the impossibility of their dream hurt the Doctor, but here, in this place where time reigned supreme, she would dare to make the wildest claim.

"Forever."

The three syllables hung in the air, and the Doctor's eyes widened. Rose didn't know if he was surprised by her bold audacity or by the realisation that she truly wanted to be there with him for _his_ forever… or maybe, he could feel something in the air that hinted at how her promise would play out.

She desperately hoped it was the latter, and when a smile stole across the Doctor's face, happiness taking over just like dawn had earlier taken over the canyon, she knew, somehow, that it was.

Rose took a deep breath and flung caution to the wind. If promises made here mattered, she would give him one more before they left. "Doctor?" She turned and placed her hands over his hearts, and he automatically put his arms around her waist.

"Yes, love?"

"I'm never going to leave you."

The air rippled around them, and the Doctor laughed breathlessly. "Come on," he said, stepping back and taking her hand. "Let's go home. I think our forever is about to begin."


End file.
